English Rules of Thub (sic)

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jbouder
Member Elite

since 1999-09-18

Posts 2534
Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash

0 posted 2003-02-10 12:54 PM

Thought some of you might enjoy these:

English Rules of Thub (sic)

1. Don't use no double negatives.
2. Make each pronoun agree with their antecedents.
3. Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
4. About them sentence fragments.
5. When dangling, watch your participles.
6. Verbs has got to agree with their subjects.
7. Just between you and i, case is important.
8. Don't write run-on sentences when they are hard to read.
9. Don't use commas, which aren't necessary.
10. Try to not ever split infinitives.
11. It is important to use your apostrophe's correctly.
12. Proofread your writing to see if you any words out.
13. Correct speling is essential.
14. A preposition is something you never end a sentence up with.
15. While a transcendant vocabulary is laudable, one must be eternally careful so that the calculated objective of communication does not become ensconsed in obscurity.
16. Eschew obfuscation.

Severn
Member Rara Avis

since 1999-07-17

Posts 7704

1 posted 2003-02-11 01:01 AM

heh

K

Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

2 posted 2003-02-11 08:09 AM

...Thubs Up...

Crazy Eddie
Member

since 2002-09-14

Posts 178

3 posted 2003-02-11 02:48 PM

These are fumblerules originally written by either George L. Trigg or William Safire depending on whom you believe, in any case the copyright to them is fiercely contested whenever and wherever they appear .
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxfumble.html
http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/protein/pert/safire.rules.html
http://www.amherst.edu/~writing/tips.html

Interestingly they have produced some debate as to whether a list such as this can be covered by copyright, the general consensus seems to be in the affirmative.

jbouder
Member Elite

since 1999-09-18

Posts 2534
Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash

4 posted 2003-02-11 03:19 PM

C/E:

I stumbled across it here:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/english/english.html

As to the copyright question, I see no reason why a list like this couldn't be covered by a copyright. Just about any creative work can be.

Jim

Crazy Eddie
Member

since 2002-09-14

Posts 178

5 posted 2003-02-11 05:12 PM

I agree, the author, whoever he may turn out to be, deserves the recognition for the hard work and thought that went into any piece, including a humorous list.

jbouder
Member Elite

since 1999-09-18

Posts 2534
Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash

6 posted 2003-02-11 09:42 PM

Um ... okay. Thanks for revealing who that author(s) might be.

Crazy Eddie
Member

since 2002-09-14

Posts 178

7 posted 2003-02-12 02:46 PM

My pleasure, as a writer (however inept) I believe credit should be given where credit is due.

Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

8 posted 2003-02-12 08:30 PM

Eddie... When are you gonna start "liking" your work???... Geesh - You're no coof, after all...

Amara
Member

since 2003-02-23

Posts 158
East of the moon, west of the sun.

9 posted 2003-03-02 12:26 PM

I needed that laugh! Thanks.

That's what we, as heroes, do. We live as if the world were like it should be, to show the world what it could be.

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